Posted on 11/29/2014 4:59:49 AM PST by Kaslin
As I wrote at Forbes yesterday, New York Senator Charles Schumer has placed the blame for the Democrats disastrous defeat in this falls election squarely at the feet of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Speaking at the National Press Club the other day, the third-ranking Democrat in the US Senate said that whatever the merits or demerits of health reform, it was bad politics.
About 95 percent of all voters have health insurance, Schumer said, and the vast majority of those like the insurance they have. By contrast, most of the uninsured dont vote. Only a third of them are even registered to vote.
Although and other Democratic insiders expressed surprise and disagreement with Schumers observations, the underlying facts have been well known (if only intuitively) by Democratic candidates for decades. How else can you explain the odd history of health care and the Democratic Party?
National health insurance has been in the national Democratic Party platform forever okay, at least since the 1930s. Yet there have been only a few instances when Democrats in office made any serious effort to deliver on that promise. For most of the last seven decades, congressional Democrats made no serious effort to insure the middle class uninsured. They even voted against Republican proposals to give tax deductions or tax credits to people who buy their own health insurance.
The exception to this pattern is the ability of the self-employed to deduct their own health insurance costs. Congressional Democrats supported this exception, or at least didnt block it, although the self-employed are overwhelmingly Republican. But when it came to proposals to extend the same tax relief to people who ordinarily vote Democrat, Congressional Democrats had no interest whatsoever.
There have been only a few occasions when Democrats have made any serious effort to reform the entire health care system. Prior to Obamacare, the last effort was Hillarycare. And that was when Democrats discovered something some of them may not have already known: The uninsured do not lobby. They do not make campaign contributions. In fact, they dont even vote!
And although those who have health insurance are not indifferent to the plight of the uninsured, polls show that the amount of taxes they are willing to pay to insure the uninsured is generally less than $100.
Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic Party has been a collection of special interest groups. What Democrats do when they are in office is legislate favors for the interest groups who support them at the polls. But once in a while Democrats do something that is purely ideological and for which there is virtually no special interest support.
In the first two years of the Obama presidency, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and they had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. It was a perfect opportunity to satisfy the ideological goals of their left wing base. But no reform is possible without the support of the core special interest constituencies. So we got national health reform completely designed by special interests!
I cant emphasize this enough. The people being helped by Obamacare (the uninsured) had absolutely no input into the design of the Affordable Came Act. The health reform bill was completely and totally designed by people who were already insured and who had an economic interest in making sure health reform was good for them.
The result, of course, has been a big mess. Such a mess that Democratic candidates in this last election were on the defensive about Obamacare from the git go. Hardly any were bragging about the fact that about 10 million people have been newly insured. Instead, they were more apt to say, Mend it dont end it.
Even that message didnt seem to help.
Also (and this fact might not make it any more affordable for your son), coverage is typically either for people who are single, married, or have families. Meaning family coverage premiums usually cost the same whether you have one or three or six kids.
It occurs to me that Chuckie Schemer may have some inside info on the way the SCOTUS will rule on Obamacare...After all he is a smart guy, is one of the most corrupt long term Senator who must have lots of sources inside the beltway...
If his inside sources are telling him Obamacare is DOA...
He is setting up the democrat party to have a built in excuse for voting for Obamacare...
Oops, it's not passing SCOTUS muster so let's move on and do it right this time...put us back in power...in 2016..
As Rush says it’s the ‘left coast’ and as you look at that map, you can see why, the only reason they are not further left is they ran out of land.
It definitely seemed to be a major factor — and many of the 2015 rate increases had not even been revealed before the election.
Otherwise, Schumer would not be distancing himself and his party from it, considering that Schumer is up for reelection in 2016. Schumer is now saying the Dems should have worked on improving the economy during Obama’s first term.
Just so no one forgets what the Obama voters think of America
The “map” in its gruberform.
I do hope the imbeded profanity is forgiveable. If not I apologize in advance.
Yes.
I’m insured. And my company benefits rep told us our plans are “Cadillac Plans”, even though I pay nearly 200 per month toward by insurance. And since they are “Cadillac Plans”, they are subject to the 40% surcharge under ObamaCare.
The solution? Next year, they will move us to a “High Deductible” plan. That will mean $3,000 more or so out of my pocket next year.
Thanks Obama. Yeah, it cost the Dems the election.
Heh-—good one-—thanks.
Youths and minorities turn out in lower numbers at mid terms, thus the voting is more in favor of conservatives.
It’s a maturity issue.
“So why didn’t the ‘pubs get rid of Obamacare when Cruz showed them how to do it,”
Because the GOPe’s corporate masters love it. Just like Obama’s amnesty plan.
Notice how the drum beat of repeal has died down now after the election. The GOP could take this and run with it building a constituency and momentum for repeal in light of all these revelations.
When Republicans advocated high deductible plans coupled with $5,000 (or more) tax free Medical Savings Accounts, Democrats hit the roof about "unfairness" and "insurance company profiteering" and implied Americans were too stupid to save enough of their own money to cover the deductibles.
Now that Obamacare is forcing the unsubsidized middle class onto the same type of $5,000 deductible plans and limiting them to only $2,500 MSA's, that is called "fundamental fairness"...even though those so-called evil insurance companies are profiting handsomely from the law.
The only difference being that Obamacare increases dependency on government, whereas the Republican proposals might have reduced it somewhat.
The dumbest redneck with three teeth sitting on the porch serenading his AR-15 with banjo music is still smarter than the Harvard liberal who truly believes Big Government will care for people like him. :)
Obama’s being proved an all-out liar cost his supporters their elections. Liar-supporters are not admired anywhere. They get less respect than the original liar.
No, taking the country full commie on every level caused the progs to lose. If it was only Obola care the thrashing wouldn’t have been so complete, and if it was only Obola care McConnel would have had more difficulty.
No, voters are sick of the muzzy usurper destroying the country.
Yup, Obamacare is Third Position/Fascist command economics.
Gvt calls the shots, determines the winners and the losers while the means of delivery remain in private hands.
By design. Enriching Big Health was critical to winning their acquiessance to Obamacare.
the first thing I notice is ... the Florida panhandle... which I thought was the most conservative part of the state is shaded blue? weird
the second thing I notice is that Arizona is shaded nearly entirely blue.. weird since it keeps electing republicans.
and the last thing is.. what the heck is up with Minnesota? what is it about the people living in rural Minnesota that make them vote differently than every other rural area in the US?
My best friend’s deductible is $6000.
And she is broke, unable to afford even a copay at this late date. She is the sole provider for 2 sons and a very sick husband. Also looking to cut ‘luxuries’ out of their budget such as spending about $5-10 a week for snacks for her sons at the Dollar Tree.
That was an early release on the night of the midterms..... will try to use a more current version.
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